Great Jokes You Can Tell At The Office

What is Frank - the office joke-mister's secret?

At the office Frank always is the one with a great joke. He's a great story teller, building the audience up with his interesting stories and funny jokes. When he starts to tell a joke, please begin to gather around. The word goes out in the office, hurry Frank's telling a new joke. The whole office is captivated by his storytelling and for the rest of the day the word spreads about Frank's joke. Tell me tell me people who missed out plead. Tell me the joke. No I can't tell it the way Frank does. For the rest of the day Frank is surrounded by people who want to hear the joke. Why don't you have any jokes like Frank's?

The secret of Frank is that he has learned to find good jokes and "release" them to his adoring fans in a well thought out, dramatic fashion. He knows how to stretch the joke out from a one liner to an actual story. He takes the time to set the mood. He allows the audience to imagine the scene like a movie. He knows when to emphasis a punch line or detail. He knows when to slow down and draw the audience in. He knows that the effective punch line only happens when the audience has bought the whole premise leading up to the conclusion and the punch line is a complete surprise. He knows a story or joke is most effective when the audience can't jump ahead and figure out where its going. Like a good mystery, the conclusion is unexpected and not where the audience was expecting it.

Frank also knows that practice makes perfect. The first time the joke is told might not be the best. No doubt Frank tests out his jokes on his wife at home before he attempts the "big time" audience at the office. Frank also knows that if he is successful at his joke delivery, people will come back for more. So Frank starts collecting jokes and editing out the bad ones. People come to expect good jokes, so he concentrates on quality not quantity. People want more and more and more but Frank knows that things become more valuable when they are rare. He keeps his jokes to one a week but oh boy are they good ones.

Frank also understands the social value of telling a joke face to face. He might not be the best paid in the office but he knows that he can get respect from adding to the social dynamic of the office environment. When he sees a good joke on an email he doesn't just hit forward and send it to hundreds of people on the Internet. Rather he prints it out and puts it in his joke collection. He knows not to use that joke for at least a year because its been sent all over the internet. Everyone has read it. But a year from now, told in Frank's polished style with some editing to make the joke more real to his audience, the joke will seem fresh and new.

Now its your turn. Here is a good joke that can be told with lots of storytelling possibilities.

The Hypnotist

It was entertainment night at the Senior Citizens Center.

Claude the hypnotist explained: "I'm here to put you into a trance;

I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience."

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful antique pocket watch from his coat.

"I want each of you to keep your eyes on this antique watch. It's a very special watch.

It's been in my family for six generations."

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, "Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch..."

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off its polished surface.

A hundred pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch until, suddenly, the chain broke; it slipped from the hypnotist's fingers and fell to the floor, breaking into a hundred pieces.